Abstract
The spatial arrangement of trees in a tropical forest reflects the interplay between aggregating processes, like dispersal limitation, and negative feedback that induces effective repulsion among individuals. Monitoring the variance-mean ratio for conspecific individuals along length-scales, we show that the effect of negative feedback is dominant at short scales, while aggregation characterizes the large-scale patterns. A comparison of different species indicates, surprisingly, that both aggregation and negative feedback scales are related to the overall abundance of the species. This suggests a bottom-up control mechanism, in which the negative feedback dictates the dispersal kernel and the overall abundance.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 247-255 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Journal of Theoretical Biology |
| Volume | 380 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 7 Sep 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
Funding
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Science Foundation | DEB-00753102, DEB-0129874, DEB-0640386, DEB-8906869, DEB-9909347, DEB-9405933, DEB-0346488, DEB-9100058, DEB-9615226, DEB-7922197, DEB-8206992, DEB-0425651, DEB-8605042, DEB-9221033 |
| Directorate for Biological Sciences | 9615226, 9405933, 0346488, 0425651, 0640386, 0129874 |
Keywords
- Aggregation
- Biodiversity
- Janzen-Connell mechanism
- Spatial structure
- Trees